96.
We investigate climate-related processes causing variations of the global mean sea level on interannual to decadal time scale.
We focus on thermal expansion of the oceans and continental water mass balance. We show that during the 1990s where global
mean sea level change has been measured by Topex/Poseidon satellite altimetry, thermal expansion is the dominant contribution
to the observed 2.5 mm/yr sea level rise. For the past decades, exchange of water between continental reservoirs and oceans
had a small, but not totally negligible contribution (about 0.2 mm/yr) to sea level rise. For the last four decades, thermal
contribution is estimated to about 0.5 mm/yr, with a possible accelerated rate of thermosteric rise during the 1990s. Topex/Poseidon
shows an increase in mean sea level of 2.5 mm/yr over the last decade, a value about two times larger than reported by historical
tide gauges. This would suggest that there has been significant acceleration of sea level rise in the recent past, possibly
related to ocean warming.
This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.
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